William Bader Leckonby (September 16, 1917 – October 22, 2007) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player, coach of football and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, and college athletics administrator. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at St. Lawrence University in

Canton, New York Canton is an incorporated town in St. Lawrence County, New York. The population was 11,638 at the time of the 2020 census. The town contains two villages: one also named Canton, the other named Rensselaer Falls. The town is named after the gr ...

and from 1939 to 1941 in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

. Leckonby served as the head football coach at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

from 1946 to 1961, compiling a record of 85–53–5. His 85 wins are the most of any coach in the history of the

Lehigh Mountain Hawks football The Lehigh Mountain Hawks football program represents Lehigh University in college football. Lehigh competes as the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level as members of the Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks play their home games ...

program, and his tenure of 16 seasons as head coach is the longest in team history. Lecknoby was also the head golf coach at Lehigh, tallying a mark of 161–62, and he served as the school's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

from 1962 to 1984.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* 1917 births 2007 deaths Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) players Jacksonville Naval Air Station Fliers football players Lehigh Mountain Hawks athletic directors Lehigh Mountain Hawks football coaches Pensacola Naval Air Station Goslings football players St. Lawrence Saints football players United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers People from Greenville, Ohio Sportspeople from Troy, New York Players of American football from New York (state) Coaches of American football from New York (state) {{1940s-collegefootball-coach-stub